The
4x4 Club is affiliated to the Zimbabwe Motor Sports Federation - ZMSF

Our
Club is a member of the Mashonaland Motor Sport Association Club House,
situated at: 2 Annan Rd. Eastlea.It is
available for hire for weddings, conferences, kid's parties, 21st
birthdays, etc.

News,
comments and opinions expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of
the Club or the Committee

THE EDITOR’S
DESK-Michael and Pat Gill

Have
you thought about who you would like on the new committee yet?The AGM is on the 24th March.Please put your thinking caps on and be
prepared to vote!!

Agenda
and minutes and all the gummige to propose and vote will go out shortly.We really need young people with a sense of
adventure as Events Officers, someone who can plan and lead a trail drive,
etc.I am sure there must be someone out
there who can take over. Have a look at
the committee members at the end of this newsletter; have a look around you at
your member friends and if you think they qualify then nominate them; and yes,
you can volunteer your own services. This
is not an onerous task and is a lot of fun.

DO YOU
WANT TO BUY A WINCH

Before
you rush into buying a winch here are a couple of thoughts.

1.Whatever you buy will need a very strong
mounting plate.

2.You must be sure that it is mounted onto the
chassis in such a way that it can carry the weight of your rig like a crane,
off the road.

3.They are very dangerous when the cable
breaks.

4.You need a good knowledge of the drain on
your battery.Many people run the
battery flat.Maybe you should have a
dual battery.

5.According to WARN you need a winch that
pulls 1.5 times your empty, or full, rig.A double cab pickup needs a 9000 lb winch and a Cruiser or Patrol would
need a 12000 lb winch.

6.Maybe you should think about a Hi Lift
jack.Yes, it can pull.It takes much longer but has lots of
advantages.

7.All the extra weight of the winch and metal
work will reduce your front ride height by about 50mm.Now you need to change the front springs.

8.If you are still with me you will see that
buying the winch is the start of a big spending spree.

9.Only the best and most expensive are water
sealed.So pulling a boat or car out
with the winch under water may be terminal if not serviced soon after.

10.The wire rope only works to full advantage
when winding on the bare drum.It loses
about 5 – 10% each layer and then there is the damage caused by bad winding.Most cables are 30 to 35m long; most
recoveries are less so the rope is already several layers deep.

LETTER FROM Kathie McIntosh OF S.O.A.P.

Dear 4X4 club,

What a marvelous Christmas you gave the destitute
elderly!!! $475 cash and all sorts of groceries went a long way to
add Christmas cheer to so many old people. It was decided by SOAP to use your
donation for one particularly desperate home. It was the Braeside Home
for the Destitute Elderly. It inhabits18 woman and 24 men who have no
family; no support, and in fact have nothing. 4 ladies from the Highland
Presbyterian Church go every Friday with a nourishing meal for the
inhabitants. We have furnished a dining room and every Friday they sit
down to a meal. In front of my eyes I have seen them develop a sense of
dignity and pride. They were "The Forgotten Old
People" All the groceries that you sent I put in individual parcels
and, at the Christmas Party, every one received these huge parcels of food to
tide them over Imagine their joy!! Some of them could not
remember when they last got a Christmas present.

Then to add to their joy Pat delivered a large
parcel of beautiful clothes. There were dresses, lots of shirts and
--best of all-----men's shoes! These will be divided among the needy.

So, on
behalf of many needy old people, a very big and very sincere thank you to all
the members of the 4X4 club. May God bless you.

Yours sincerely,Kathie
McIntosh.

CHINESE
PROVERB

If
you want to be happy for a day – get drunk.

If
you want to be happy for three days – get married.

If
you want to be happy for a week – kill a pig. But

If
you want to be happy for ever – MAKE A GARDEN.

TECHNICAL
TIP

You
know that small water bottle for the radiator water; well you can see it gets
very dirty.Have you tried to clean one,
shaking nuts inside with soap or pool acid or Meths or engine cleaner or Jik
all failed me.Get a strong piece of
wire, fix a small piece of toweling to it, put soap and water and start
prodding around inside.Result - A nice
clean tank and I can see the water level again.

MEMBER'S
NEWS:

Lloyd Clarke's daughter, Amy, had nasty
accident in Lloyd's lovely Nissan Patrol. He says it was the car that prevented her from
much more serious injury.Both she and the
Patrol are well and up and running. Ngomo Kurira here we come.

Rene Czudek bought the LR90 V8 from the
Linds and with the 4x4 bug he now has a Jeep Wrangler as well.While playing with it at Donnybrook it just
failed to perform till Ray Walker pointed out it had no front drive.Ray had experienced this on his Wrangler so a
few quick repairs under the gearbox and happiness, four wheel drive again.Now he is looking for a Series 2 Landy SWB.

Grant Weare is on a mission with V8
Disco and other bits to create a new SWB V8 toy.Keep it up and you may have it going before Dad,
Kelvin, gets the Cournil going.

TECHNICAL
TIP:

Tubes
of glue are often scattered around the workshop or lost in an overfull junk
drawer.Make yourself a handy home for these
battered and twisted tubes.Cut the top
off a 2 litre plastic squash bottle and tuck it away on a corner of the work
bench.If you keep all your tubes in
here at least they are handy to get at and do not stick to the
surroundings.

A LITTLE BIT OF PAM AYRES

There are holes in the sky

Where the rain comes in.

They are ever so small

That's why the rain is so thin.

PAST
EVENTS:

ARCADIA DAM "ACTIVE
SPORTS MOUNTAIN BIKE CHALLENGE"

Once again your Club was asked to help with a cross country
MTB race and this time the Gills and the Greenways did the job in their
Patrols.This is a three day event of
about 85 ks per day through the most beautiful Mazoe Valley and North to
Arcadia Dam on the Pote River.

Our jobs were to act as a sweep car, pick up the breakages,
and set up water points with food and drink.The cyclists had done about 35 ks by the time they found us and the 4x4
Club banners.You should see how hungry
and thirsty they were.

We had to go back down the route to collect a cyclist near
the Mazoe River and with a sick exhausted rider on board we sank into saturated
sand like quick sand.The driver's side
running board was under wet sand!Luckily
we had a winch and there was a suitable tree at 45 deg. in front.We pulled ourselves out onto hard ground, put
the casualty back in his seat and rejoined the event.

ANNUAL
GOMOKURIRA MOUNTAIN DRIVE.

The day and drive was lovely!

26 Vehicles, in all approximately 70 adults, several
children and pets. We could not have asked for better weather.

There were 2 routes – the difficult route lead by Malcolm in
'Fugly' and the easier route lead by Roger in his Patrol. Malcolm in the
Jeep/Nissan comp. led two other cars, Alan Sheers in his Landy S3 and Dale
Kiggen in his comp. S1 Landy.

We all arrived at the lunch spot safe and sound without
mishap. There was the usual 'kissing the beacon' at the very top.The last 50 m is tricky and needs guidance
from the spectators. I think the first
kiss was by Tim in his Pajero. Some of the “geo-cachers” among the club
went searching with GPS for the 3 geo-caches in the area. One not too
difficult that had some of the “muggle” members hooked onto the sport. The
other involved a bit of energy and a climb so we left that one to the
enthusiasts, while the rest of us preferred to relax under the trees. The third
may have been found by some of the members on their way home. This event
is always such a great way to start the year! Stunning views, good company,
good food and drink and of course all the conversation about whether we should
drive a Landrover, a Nissan Patrol, a Landcruiser, a Jeep………..

Thanks to Carol
Weare who were in their Landcruiser 60

4x4 Club Diary -2013

These
dates change as the year progresses, but flyers will be sent out before each
event.

FEBRUARY17 MUD
FESTDonnybrook

MARCH24 AGMDonnybrook

MARCH
/APRIL 29-1 EASTER

APRIL17-21 ExpeditionAway

MAY11-12 BushpigShamva Road

MAY17-18 Motor Show

MAY25Night
Extreme and Jamboree LaunchDonnybrook

JUNE13-16 Bush Clearing To be Advised

JULY13-14Course
BuildingDonnybrook

AUGUST3-4 JAMBOREEDonnybrook

AUGUST12-13Away
WeekendT.B.A.

SEPTEMBER
15English
and African RulesDonnybrook

OCTOBER
19–203
Hills Chinamora

NOVEMBER22–24 Dungbeetle
TBAMutare

DECEMBER8Christmas RunLocal

DONNYBROOK

To enter Donnybrook Park on
a non-event day it will cost you $2
per car, providing you have you membership card.Non-members will be charged $20 per car.You must sign the book at the gate and put
your name, your Club and membership number.Do notpay without signing the book.

Please note:If you wish to go to Donnybrook to play and there is
another event on, then the organizing club can charge what they like for you to
enter.They will have hired the entire
complex for that day. Please don’t try and argue with the gate attendant, they
will just be doing their job.Either
pay-up or go away and come back on a free day.

WEB SITE/FACE BOOK

Have
you had a look at our Web Site?Grant
Weare has done a really good job of updating it.Go to:http://www.4x4.co.zw

We have a Face Book
site4x4
Zimbabwe

Motor Sports
Association Club House

MSA Membership: The Club House bar works
on a Swipe Card basis and any member of an affiliated club can join.Pay your $20 Club House subscription and get
your card.Bar prices are double for
non-cardholders.

Hall for Hire -
Hire
our affordable Club facilities for parties, Wedding Receptions, meetings,
seminars, courses and other functions.Assist us in this way to obtain funds for the Clubhouse.